[Trygve]

Any thoughts on when we might see new ones? I'll be visiting the US in November and might want to update my system... it'd be nice if there were to be an update between now and then.

[Simon]

I'm expecting the update within the next two to three weeks. There will definitely be new MBPs by the time you go to the US in November.

You can expect at least a 2.8 GHz Penryn with 6 MB cache (on the new 1066 MHz bus) on the high-end. Possibly even dual 2.93 GHz or quad-core at 2.53 GHz. 8 GB RAM ceiling. Larger disks. New GPUs although I'm still not entirely sure what to expect there. Probably a new case. I wouldn't expect BR or a 1680x1050 option on the 15".

[Big Mac]

I doubt there will be a new MBP case until Nehalem, but I could be wrong.

[Trygve]

I am hoping they don't lose the 1920x1200 as that is the primary reason for wanting an update... 1680x1050 is just a bit restrictive. BR???

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Trygve 

I am hoping they don't lose the 1920x1200 as that is the primary reason for wanting an update...

As a BTO option on the 17" I'm sure it will stay around. However I can guarantee you that it won't become the 17" standard resolution.

1680x1050 is just a bit restrictive.

I should have been more specific. I was talking about the 15" MBP, not the 17". I added that comment now to clarify.

BR???

Blu-ray

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

I doubt there will be a new MBP case until Nehalem, but I could be wrong.

And I was thinking that since this is "just" a refreshed Core 2 Duo MBP a new case would help Apple market it as "new". When the i7 hits the mobile world there will be a "new CPU" to help sell the MBP. Of course this is just me thinking out loud. In a few weeks we'll know what Steve's opinion on this matter was.

[mduell]

Imminently.

[Chuckit]

I'm thinking expect an update within the next few weeks. Apple supposedly has a "media event" in September, and everything is ready for an MBP upgrade.

[Brien]

Originally Posted by Simon 

I'm expecting the update within the next two to three weeks. There will definitely be new MBPs by the time you go to the US in November.

You can expect at least a 2.8 GHz Penryn with 6 MB cache (on the new 1066 MHz bus) on the high-end. Possibly even dual 2.93 GHz or quad-core at 2.53 GHz. 8 GB RAM ceiling. Larger disks. New GPUs although I'm still not entirely sure what to expect there. Probably a new case. I wouldn't expect BR or a 1680x1050 option on the 15".

I really wish there was a HR option on the 15". The 17" is not nearly as portable but the resolution of the current panels on the 15 aren't really suited for a lot of the pro apps.

[zykron]

Why would there be blu-ray in a portable before it's in a desktop?

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

I'm thinking expect an update within the next few weeks. Apple supposedly has a "media event" in September, and everything is ready for an MBP upgrade.

Many sources claim that media event is reserved for iTunes 8 and new iPods.

[Brien]

So you think Apple will hold a separate event for the MBP, or just put it on the front page?

[hydr]

In true Steve Jobs style we´ll see:
* iTunes 8
* New iPods

and then...
"we have a little surprise for you"
* new macbook PRO (1066MHZ FSB, 16GB RAM, 3.06GHZ dual core, touchscreen mousepad)
* updated macbooks

:-)

[mkerr64]

September 6th

[Simon]

Originally Posted by hydr 

In true Steve Jobs style we´ll see:
* iTunes 8
* New iPods

and then...
"we have a little surprise for you"

* new macbook PRO

Check.

1066MHZ FSB

Check.

3.06GHZ dual core

Big question mark with sprinkles on top.

16GB RAM

Not the sligtest chance.

touchscreen mousepad

Dream on.

updated macbooks

Yep. Welcome back to reality.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Brien 

So you think Apple will hold a separate event for the MBP, or just put it on the front page?

I'm not all that sure. Somehow it feels a bit big for just a front page announcement. OTOH they haven't sent out any invitations for another event. And I'm not so sure Apple wants to put all this in the same event either. They like their coverage spread out. Remember the beginning of this year? After MWSF a new announcement/release/update every week for how long? 6 weeks?

[hydr]

Dell is offering:
3,06GHz Intel Centrino 2 Extreme Edition
1066MHZ FSB
up to 16GB Memory

and they also mention quad-core hitting their product line.


So, this this should give us an indication what is inside the leaked MacBook Pro pictures we've seen.

[Brien]

For future upgradability that's going to be great. Right now 16GB is probably overkill but in 2-3 years I'm sure we'll need it.

[Big Mac]

Originally Posted by Simon 

And I was thinking that since this is "just" a refreshed Core 2 Duo MBP a new case would help Apple market it as "new". When the i7 hits the mobile world there will be a "new CPU" to help sell the MBP. Of course this is just me thinking out loud. In a few weeks we'll know what Steve's opinion on this matter was.

I base my opinion on Apple precedent: New chip generations are usually accompanied by case redesigns. The G4 was introduced with a redesigned version of the Smurf Tower. The PB G4 introduced the Titanium design. The iMac G4 was accompanied by the Lampshade design. The G5 was introduced with its new case design. The iMac G5 was a new design. The notable exceptions that conform to your idea happened within the G3: the beige to Smurf Tower switch and the clamshell to iceBook switch on the iBook side.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by hydr 

Dell is offering:
3,06GHz Intel Centrino 2 Extreme Edition
1066MHZ FSB
up to 16GB Memory

and they also mention quad-core hitting their product line.

That workstation laptop is probably going to be twice as big as an MBP.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by hydr 

Dell is offering:
...
up to 16GB Memory

As I already replied to you above that is not the kind of notebook Apple does (i.e. a desktop with a battery). The new MBP will be based on the Cantiga chipset and have a RAM ceiling of 8GB. Per Intel spec. Nothing Dell offers will change a thing about that.

Also note that Apple has in the past never used Centrino. There is no reason for them to change that right now as Shiloh offers nothing new.

[Maflynn]

Originally Posted by hydr 

Dell is offering:
...
So, this this should give us an indication what is inside the leaked MacBook Pro pictures we've seen.

Since when did Apple started to follow Dell on design and specs. I care less of what Dell produces and more on what apple does.

[hydr]

I have no idea what they´ll come out with, but I´m excited. I was merely pointing out what Dell currently have in terms of performance, and what we *might* expect Apple releasing.


Just wish someone would have some good rumor updates soon.

[Maflynn]

Originally Posted by hydr 

Just wish someone would have some good rumor updates soon.

Apple plays it very close to the vest and rumor sites are generally suspect. They do things according to their own time line and we must sit and wait (and speculate )

[hydr]

I guess I am a gambler, cause I just sold my only mac a fine fine 2.4ghz Macbook pro with 4GB ram.

Now I'll wait until 9th september for the new one, if they dont release one I'll have to buy a Macbook pro again...

But I need more juice, one way or another.


GO APPLE!

[GSixZero]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

I base my opinion on Apple precedent: New chip generations are usually accompanied by case redesigns. The G4 was introduced with a redesigned version of the Smurf Tower. The PB G4 introduced the Titanium design. The iMac G4 was accompanied by the Lampshade design. The G5 was introduced with its new case design. The iMac G5 was a new design. The notable exceptions that conform to your idea happened within the G3: the beige to Smurf Tower switch and the clamshell to iceBook switch on the iBook side.

Yes, but that hasn't been the case recently. Other than the iBook going away and having the MacBook replace it, none of the other lines had case changes when they switched to intel procs.

[Brien]

And the PowerBook went from Ti to Al during the g4 era. (And the iMac was still using C2D when it went aluminum).

I'd hate to wait for Nehalem for a redesign. The fact that the air and vanilla MacBook get features the MBP doesn't (steel reinforced aluminum, magnetic latch, user-accessible hard-drive) can't go on forever. OTOH, it's been what, 4 years of the same case design? It could probably go another year.

[hydr]

http://blogs.zdnet.com/storage/?p=352


Thats interesting... What do you guys think? Right on the money?

[MrShow]

Originally Posted by hydr 

http://blogs.zdnet.com/storage/?p=352

Thats interesting... What do you guys think? Right on the money?

I think that if you're following the rumors and reading this and other forums, this article doesn't shed any new light on the situation.

There is noway Apple is going to eliminate optical drives in either the MacBook or the MacBook Pro. The reason the MacBook Air can get away with this is that it's meant as a compliment to a desktop computer.

The dual drive configuration is just silly. It wouldn't save any power or provide better performance.

Quad core chips are too hot and power hungry.

WiMax isn't pervasive enough. Maybe a BTO option.

Switchable graphics sounds interesting but I haven't read anything about it.

Larger RAM limit, LED backlighting and better power management are a given.

Blu-Ray and case redesign would be awesome.

I'm not sold on the glass track pad. It'll probably have better "touch" support but definitely won't have 3 buttons.

Just my thoughts after reading everything I can find on the possible new MacBook Pros.
MrShow

[hydr]

Personally I don't need Blu-ray or an optical drive for that matter. Quad core is definately a possbility, why shouldn't it be? With the new improvements in battery and cpu power management, and the GPU switch technology, I rekon we'll have longer battery life than we currently have on the MacBook Pros.

My wishlist:
Quad Core 2.6GHz
No optical drive (save energy, space and weight. Give us "add on" like Air.)
Glass mousepad, hopefully the same as the iphone screen.
320GB 7200 rpm
Around 3 hours battery (totally possible with quad core 2.6GHz) on 15" & 17"
16GB memory limit, 8 would be fine but I hope they give us 16GB.
As for GPU, I don't really care as long as it doesn't waste battery too much.

But more than ANYTHING I hope they release one in September, whatever it is.

[Brien]

If you personally don't need an optical drive, that's fine. But I seriously doubt Apple would drop them from all their computers so early - optical media still has quite a few years before it goes obsolete.

[Big Mac]

They're not going to drop the optical drive. It would be seen as a major competitive disadvantage, and it would piss off too many people.

[MrShow]

From what I've read the quad cores would be too hot for the current, or thinner, form factor. The PC's that ship with quads are much bulkier. If anyone can make it work though, I'm hoping it'll be Apple.

I still don't think they'll dump the optical drive, but thinking about how often I use one having an external Air type drive might be sufficient.

Not sure how useful a glass track pad would be. I'm curious what you need 16GB of Ram for? The reason I ask is that I have 4.5GB on my desktop at work and with all the CS3 apps running I rarely, maybe if I do a bunch of photoshop work, see any pageouts.

Yes, September update please. :-)

[mduell]

Originally Posted by MrShow 

From what I've read the quad cores would be too hot for the current, or thinner, form factor. The PC's that ship with quads are much bulkier. If anyone can make it work though, I'm hoping it'll be Apple.

Of course you can't put the 90+W desktop quads in the iMac; Apple would use the ~40W mobile quads that Intel should be releasing shortly. Dell is already talking about a mobile workstation based on them.

Originally Posted by MrShow 

I'm curious what you need 16GB of Ram for? The reason I ask is that I have 4.5GB on my desktop at work and with all the CS3 apps running I rarely, maybe if I do a bunch of photoshop work, see any pageouts.

Caching.

[lpkmckenna]

RoughlyDrafted seems to expect a multitouch screen instead of a trackpad too. I dunno if I want Apple to move in that direction. Frankly, I think it's time for a laptop/tablet design.

[calverson]

Of course - the funniest thing will be if September rolls on by, and there is no upgrade to the MacBooks and Macbook Pros.

I just got an e-mail from someone that works for Apple - and they said:

"Yes, It seems so. Apple never discusses new models but thats what people have been saying. Let me know if you still want prices on the current Macbook, but rather wait to see what happens..."

I happen to know this person personally (duh) and I don't think that she would lie. However, one never knows.

[Eug]

Well, I was guessing October for new laptops myself. I could see late Sept. though.

BTW, I just sold my MacBook too. Mind you, I replaced it with a G4 iBook for the time being. (Got it uber-cheap off Craigslist.)

Originally Posted by calverson 

Of course - the funniest thing will be if September rolls on by, and there is no upgrade to the MacBooks and Macbook Pros.

I just got an e-mail from someone that works for Apple - and they said:

"Yes, It seems so. Apple never discusses new models but thats what people have been saying. Let me know if you still want prices on the current Macbook, but rather wait to see what happens..."

I happen to know this person personally (duh) and I don't think that she would lie. However, one never knows.

So basically she just said there are rumours of new laptops coming, but she doesn't know anything?

Finally, a quote from an Apple employee that I can actually believe!

[calverson]

Originally Posted by Eug 

So basically she just said there are rumours of new laptops coming, but she doesn't know anything?

Finally, a quote from an Apple employee that I can actually believe!

Well, I was asking about getting a new Macbook Pro, (inquiring about the prices, because straight $ conversions from Apple.com don't work so well) and she told me to wait.

I never actually got the prices.

But yes, she did not commit to anything.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by calverson 

Well, I was asking about getting a new Macbook Pro, (inquiring about the prices, because straight $ conversions from Apple.com don't work so well) and she told me to wait.

I never actually got the prices.

But yes, she did not commit to anything.

You might want to check out buyersguide.macrumors.com whenever you're considering a purchase, as that has a summary of previous Mac release dates. Even if there were no rumours of a Mac laptop design revamp, we're due for new updates very soon anyway.

For consumer Mac laptops, the traditional fall update time is October or November. For the pro laptops, it's more variable, but October seems popular.

[calverson]

http://www.ipodnn.com/articles/08/09...vent.sept.9th/

Mmmm... Maybe only 7 days.

[Eug]

Maybe, but I wonder if it's just for the iPod/iTunes/iPhone.



Anyways, I'm still surprised Apple can get people to come to these. It'd better be damn interesting.

[Chuckit]

Having heard more, it definitely sounds like an iP* update. Maybe they'll finally bring the iPod touch into some kind of parity with the phone. I'd still expect a silent refresh of the MBP in the next two weeks after the event, though.

[romeosc]

...... It's got to be soon.... I just bought 2 17" Macbook pros.

Apple always updates within a week of when I purchase new equiptment!

[TheoCryst]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

Having heard more, it definitely sounds like an iP* update. Maybe they'll finally bring the iPod touch into some kind of parity with the phone. I'd still expect a silent refresh of the MBP in the next two weeks after the event, though.

I'm still hoping for a considerable MBP form factor upgrade in the next month or so, so I'm gonna hope that you're wrong. But I agree that it's probably just an iPod/iPhone update on the 9th. Too bad.

[Brien]

If they don't redesign the enclosure we won't see it until Nehalem I'd think. But hell, everyone loves the design and Apple likes not changing it. Maybe they'll keep it a few more years.

[calverson]

Originally Posted by Brien 

If they don't redesign the enclosure we won't see it until Nehalem I'd think. But hell, everyone loves the design and Apple likes not changing it. Maybe they'll keep it a few more years.

That is true - the current design is already (as far as I am concerned) far above a lot of other machines out there, and I am yet to see a 15.4" or 17" that is quite aesthetic as the MacBook Pro. In fact, I would think that it is the best built laptops out there.

So why change a good thing?

I would way rather see Macbook's being made into 12" Al'books with Intel processors and being one inch thick, with the same res screen and exact same innards. That would be sweet, and that would kick the Air's ass.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by calverson 

That is true - the current design is already (as far as I am concerned) far above a lot of other machines out there, and I am yet to see a 15.4" or 17" that is quite aesthetic as the MacBook Pro. In fact, I would think that it is the best built laptops out there.

So why change a good thing?

Because the MacBook Pro's hard drive is not user replaceable.

[Maflynn]

Originally Posted by calverson 

I would way rather see Macbook's being made into 12" Al'books with Intel processors and being one inch thick, with the same res screen and exact same innards. That would be sweet, and that would kick the Air's ass.

And why would apple want to purposely cannabilize their own MBA sales?

No, a 12" MB is probably not in the works and the design of the MBP, is long in the tooth, so its due for a make over. As Eug pointed out changing the hard drive is a royal pain, as you need to disassemble the entire unit to get at the hard drive.

[calverson]

Originally Posted by Maflynn 

And why would apple want to purposely cannabilize their own MBA sales?

They wouldn't

Originally Posted by Maflynn 

No, a 12" MB is probably not in the works and the design of the MBP, is long in the tooth, so its due for a make over. As Eug pointed out changing the hard drive is a royal pain, as you need to disassemble the entire unit to get at the hard drive.

Yes, I agree that there will be no 12" MB. BUT I was stating that it would be nice.

But definitely not predicting.

[TheoCryst]

Originally Posted by calverson 

So why change a good thing?

Yep, the hard drive is one of the big things. Also, I love my MacBook's integrated keyboard, and the MBP is the only Apple device left with the older keyboard design (MB, MBA, and the standard Apple keyboard all use the slim, low-profile chiclet keys).

I do agree that it's a great design; it's also one that could do for a refresh.